Color management refers to the process of attempting to display or render the same or similar colors on devices so that these colors appear consistently on these devices. For example, different monitors attached to different computer systems, or different monitors attached to the same computer system, may render the same color inconsistently. This inconsistent display may result from a number of factors, such as the technology employed in the different monitors, the design of the monitors, the age of the monitors, or the like.
Additionally, a given color within a piece of media may be rendered differently as it is transformed across different types of presentations. For example, a photographer may capture an image of a yellow flower using a digital camera. To the eye of the photographer, the yellow flower may appear to have a certain shade or hue of yellow. When the resulting photograph of the yellow flower is rendered in the camera's display, for example, an LCD display, the shade of the yellow flower may appear differently in the LCD than it did “live”, due to the design of the camera's LCD display, for example. The photographer may download the photograph to a personal computer, display the photograph on the screen of the computer, and edit the photograph using a picture editor. Finally, the photographer may print the photograph on suitable paper using a color printer.
In each of the operations in the foregoing workflow, the yellow shade of the flower may change as the photograph is transferred from one type of presentation to another. These inconsistent displays of the given color, in this example, the yellow of the flower, may frustrate users and cause them to expend time and effort adjusting the various components of the workflow in an effort to achieve consistent renditions of color across the different devices. Other less committed users may simply quit using digital color systems, or accept the inconsistent color results.
Another factor complicating the consistent display of color across a variety of different devices and media is that fact that colors may be perceived differently depending on the ambient lighting conditions under which the colors are perceived. For example, a given object of a given color may appear quite differently when viewed indoors under artificial light, as compared to viewing the same object outdoors under natural sunlight. Even in the context of artificial light, the same object can appear to have different colors in tungsten lighting, as compared to fluorescent lighting, mercury-vapor lighting, sodium-based lighting, or the like.